Pages

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Cherry Cordials

Cherry Cordial Cookies

You've been so patient waiting for my first recipe, so I'm going to give you a good one. A new one that I sort of made up all by myself! I first test drove these for a friend's BBQ in July and they were a big hit. At the time Betty Crocker was accepting submissions for their Mix it Up with Betty cookie recipe contest. I submitted this, but did not make the cut this year. While I would never advocate using a packaged mix and calling it homemade, I would encourage you to use the mixes as a base to come up with something amazing. That's what I love about that contest and I've found many a good cookie recipes from it.

This recipe started out as Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies, but I switched from Jell-O brand gelatin to the store brand gelatin (for no reason other than price) and Dave just about lost it at the difference in flavor. His exact words were, " Oh my God that's exactly the same flavor as a Cherry Cordial chocolate candy." Thus the name change. He did suggest, however, to try it with milk chocolate chips next time around, instead of semi-sweet, for an even closer similarity.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F for a dark pan (add 25 degrees for a light pan). In a medium bowl combine sugar cookie mix and cherry gelatin mix. Add butter and egg. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into dry ingredients as much as possible before mixing with a wooden spoon. If your butter isn't soft enough, you may need to add a splash of milk, but just keep working the dough until everything is incorporated. Add chocolate chips and mix through.

On a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, drop by spoonfuls (I use a small cookie scoop) about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 8 minutes. (If you bake two sheets at time, rotate the sheets 180 degrees AND switch racks halfway through for more even baking.) Remove from oven and cool on sheets for 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.

I don't know it you already know this, but your awesome recipe just got some equally awesome publicity via the Betty Crocker Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/bettycrocker). I look forward to trying this recipe in the future. Thanks!